ZyXEL Communications 4528F User Manual

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XGS-4526/4528F/4728F User’s Guide
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OSPF
This chapter describes the OSPF (Open Shortest Path First) routing protocol and 
shows you how to configure OSPF. 
37.1  OSPF Overview 
OSPF (Open Shortest Path First) is a link-state protocol designed to distribute 
routing information within an autonomous system (AS). An autonomous system is 
a collection of networks using a common routing protocol to exchange routing 
information.
OSPF offers some advantages over traditional vector-space routing protocols 
(such as RIP). The following table summarizes some of the major differences 
between OSPF and RIP. 
37.1.1  OSPF Autonomous Systems and Areas
An OSPF autonomous system (AS) can be divided into logical areas. Each area 
represents a group of adjacent networks. All areas are connected to a backbone 
(also known as area 0). The backbone is the transit area to route packets between 
two areas. A stub area, at the edge of an AS is not a transit area since there is 
only one connection to the stub area. 
Table 113   OSPF vs. RIP 
OSPF
RIP
Network Size Large
Small (with up to 15 routers)
Metrics 
Bandwidth, hop count, throughput, 
round trip time and reliability.  
Hop count 
Convergence Fast
Slow